The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985 was a groundbreaking exhibition curated by Maurice Tuchman at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 23rd November 1986 to 8th March 1987 followed by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago from 17th April to 19th July 1978 and Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague from 1st September to 22nd November 1987. The exhibition was accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue published by Abbeville Press, New York. Edited by Maurice Tuchman. ISBN 0-89659-669-9. Copies are still available online from several sources.
This blockbuster exhibition is celebrated for introducing to the mainstream art world neglected women artists such as Hilma af Klint and Agnes Pelton, both have recently found even more recognition with solo shows at the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York
The Los Angeles Times wrote in their review from 1987:
This is at once a book of essays and a catalogue accompanying the exhibition of the same title at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the inaugural exhibition of the museum’s Robert O. Anderson Building. The exhibition has deservedly received major attention in the art world, both for its visual achievement and for the interesting questions it raises with respect to the spiritual, mystical and occult origins of abstract art. The documentation in the book will forever change how we understand those origins. Moreover, that one of the major museums in this country should inaugurate a new period in its life with the subject matter of the spiritual in art represents a major shift in contemporary sensibilities. Two decades ago this would have been unthinkable.
The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985 remains today a seminal exhibition and publication on this genre of art.